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Germany to decide Opel deal
30 July 2009
Germany is planning to exert its right to veto any decision General Motors may make on which company it sells Opel/Vauxhall to.
GM is believed to heavily favour the deal from RHJ, while the German government wants GM to deal with Magna as it would protect the maximum amount of German jobs.
Chancellor Angela Merkel doesn’t want to see any Opel staff lose their jobs ahead of September’s general election. The German government will provide loans to the eventual winner as the “sale is not sustainable without them”, according to Merkel’s chief spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm.
“An agreement by GM with one of the two remaining investors would not be enough,” he said. “Federal and state governments have to be in a position to support such an agreement.”
To try and make progress in the talks, German officials are planning to meet with their US counterparts. The US government is the majority owner of GM and Merkel’s chief economic advisor Jens Weidmann is in Washington this week for G20 talks. It is believed he will take time out from the talks to discuss the Opel/Vauxhall deal.
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